They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.  They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”  And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching– with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”  At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

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Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ our Risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

Jesus is teaching in the synagogue.  What happens?  He encounters someone possessed by a demon.  By an unclean spirit.  “I know who you are.  You are the Holy One of God.”  And what does Jesus do?  He commands the unclean spirit to be silent and come out of the man.  And the people in the synagogue are pretty amazed.  This person, this Jesus has authority over the demonic.  Only God has control over the demonic.  This guy Jesus must have some serious authority.

Demonic possession.  That is what this story from Mark’s gospel is about.  Now… I haven’t done this in a while.  I want you to all turn to a neighbor near you.  It cannot be your spouse.  I want you to turn to your neighbor, and I want you to tell them your thoughts on Demonic possession.  Go and talk.  I will call you back in a couple of minutes.

So, what did you learn?  How comfortable was that conversation?  See, in our modern time, we really do not know what to do with demonic possession.  We rely on horror stories like the story in the movie “The Exorcist,” where the devil actually physically possesses someone and there is levitation, and lots of vomit and cursing, and Catholic Priests, and Holy Water, and Crucifixes.  Well, I believe that is far too simple.  The devil is much smarter than that.  The devil is much smarter than that.

Or there is the time during my hospital chaplaincy I encountered a man who was found unconscious on a random street corner in Chicago.  He was hit with some form of blunt object and left for dead.  In speaking with his dad at the hospital, I learned of this young man’s battle with heroin addiction.  This father was the only family member that would be there with him.  The son had made so many enemies in his family, and done so much damage that neither his mother, sister, or step-mother would come to see him.  Seeing this young man lay in bed recovering from both a major head trauma at the same time he was suffering withdrawal from heroin, I thought to myself, “this young man in possessed.  He has some awful demons.”  Yet, it is not possession like we think it is supposed to be.  It is something much more real and much less imaginary than the movie “The Exorcist.”

The devil is much smarter than that.  I like to give this example.  How many times have you heard the phrase, “Look at the mess we have now.  They took God out of the schools and we cannot even pray.”  Think about that cliché.  They took God out of the schools.  Many I have met just simply believe this.  But think about it.  Do we as humans actually have the ability to control where God will and will not be?  Do we as humans think we can actually deem where God resides?  This is the creator of the universe we are talking about here.  I don’t think we do.  But the devil would trick us into thinking some of this sort.  We are separate and God is not near us.  And who is to blame for this?  Whoever those evil people are that do not allow prayer in schools.  Sounds like a devilish plan to me.

This past week, a pastor colleague of mine, his name is R. Don Wright, he wrote about how the church has become irrelevant.  It is something we are doing to ourselves.  Listen carefully to what he writes… “The church has become irrelevant because those who are well have no need of a physician, and everyone’s fine.  So the church, which ought to be a hospital – the inn where Jesus our Good Samaritan carries us to be treated having been beaten and left for dead by Sin, Death, and the Devil—is converted into an upscale eatery for people who are well.”  I will say that last line again.  “the inn where Jesus our Good Samaritan carries us to be treated having been beaten and left for dead by Sin, Death, and the Devil—is converted into an upscale eatery for people who are well.”

Wow.  Kind of grabs you doesn’t it?  I would only nuance what my colleague says.  It is converted into an upscale eatery for people who think they are well.”  Remember, that devil tricks us.  Perhaps so much into thinking we ourselves don’t have any demons possessing us.

So what is the solution to all of this?  Well… much like I explained to the children.  Jesus is a healer.

I like to tell this story.  It is about a man in a previous congregation.  He hadn’t regularly attended Sunday worship in over 30 years.  When I was there, he would go to worship on Easter and Christmas Eve.  He and his wife had just experienced a tragedy in their family – a daughter of theirs who had a long history of drug abuse died.  Well, one day I stopped by shortly thereafter and it was just me and him.  He talked it out quite a bit and we prayed.  Then I shared communion with him and the most surprising thing had happened.  He was shaking so much, that he barely could get the cup to his mouth to drink the wine.  That is when I realized, “This man is possessed and that demon is now gone.”  Not in the way we think of possession, but he had demons that were haunting him.  Every parent does.

An exorcist.  One who dispels of the unclean.  The healer.  And during Epiphany, we celebrate this facet of Jesus of the light scattering the darkness.   The visual manifestation of Jesus being someone who heals.  Jesus takes away demons.  Jesus casts them out.  That is the good news.  Much like the story I told you of the shaking man.  That wasn’t me casting out a demon.  That was the Son of God.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit.

Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

There are three pieces of scripture before us this morning.  The first is Psalm 23, which Dana just read.  Psalm 23 tends to be a psalm read at just about every funeral.  It has a reputation for being a death psalm.  If you listen to the words, it is nothing of the sort.  It isn’t a death psalm.  It is a life psalm.  The Lord is my shepherd, I will not need anything.  He leads me to the best pastures and stillest waters.  The psalm is about a Lord who loves us and gives us life.

And life is something that Don Nelson had.  He had a lot of life, almost making it to his 95^th birthday.  Life however, is not something that can be measured in years.  Life is measured in both relationship and connection.  Don had quite a bit of both.

There is a long list of relationship and connection.  He served in the Army Air Corps during WWII.  He was a charter member of Tyler Kiwanis.  He was involved with a number of activities at First English.  He started the Junior Choir.  He worked with the youth.  It actually seems these past few days, that every time I talked to somebody new, they told of something else Don did at First English.

He was a member of the American Legion.  He was connected to other people.  He was in relationship with others.

He was a family man who dearly loved his first wife Margery.  He took great care of her when she was ill.  He was such a family man, that when he married Avis, all of her children and grandchildren weren’t step-children and step-grandchildren, they were children and grandchildren to him.  They became his family.

I think Don’s story of his community and family life are good images of what God does in our lives.  God gives life.  God gave life to Don and everyone who knew him through family, through his community, and through his faith.

I wanted to share my own story about Don.  When I first arrived here at First English, one of the things Don would do every Sunday when he was on his way out of the narthex, is he would shake my hand like normal, and then he would attempt to arm wrestle me.  He would use most of his grip, and it was strong, and he would say something like “see, I still got it!”  I am pretty sure he could still beat me at arm wrestling.  He still did have it.  I want you to keep this image of Don, reaching out to grab your hand in a very strong manner, keep that image in your minds.

I think that kind of strength is a good image for the strength that God has.  We read about this strength in Paul’s 1^st letter to the Corinthians, which Andrea read.  Paul was writing to the church in Corinth that was in deep conflict with each other.  Paul writes, “When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’”

Those are verses reflecting the strength of God.  The strength of God is shown in defeating death.  That image I told you to keep in your mind of Don reaching for your hand to grasp it with his strength?  Well, that is a lot like the strength of God as it is shown in these verses.  Where death is your victory?

Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians is a teaching letter of Paul.  Paul was correcting some of the teachings of the church at Thessalonica.  Paul was teaching them about death.  “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.”

How fitting was the passage that Lon picked for today.  Just like Don showed his strength with grabbing your arm, God shows his strength by defeating death.  Furthermore, the scripture read for today, it isn’t for Don.  It is for all of us assembled and gathered here – those of us who are mourning our loss.  It is for those of us who need to hear the Gospel.  The good news, that Jesus is our savior.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”  These words are for us.  Paul was writing to the Thessalonians, but also to us.  It is because we have a sure and certain hope in Jesus Christ our Lord.

And finally, there is a verse that Don himself chose that we didn’t read today, but it is on the very front of your bulletin.  From the Revelation of John.  “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.”  “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”  That verse that Don chose… it shows the strength of God.  Just like Don would reach out his hand… Jesus reaches his hand out to us.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea– for they were fishermen.  And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  And immediately they left their nets and followed him.  As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.  Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

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Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  These are Jesus’ words to Simon and Andrew.  Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  Really?  Fishing for people?  Who wants to catch a person?  People don’t taste very good, do they?

Now, I want you all to think a little bit.  Put yourself in both Simon and Andrew’s shoes.  Do you just drop everything and go?  By nets, I mean everything.  Really, this was their job and their livelihood.  So, it means everything.  Just quit your job and go follow Jesus?  Well, in Mark’s Gospel and in the others we read about them and they do go.  They follow.  Simon, who is also called Peter is one of the main followers.  Following so much that he makes some mistakes along the way.

Now I will be honest.  I don’t think the Gospel of Mark really includes everything.  Because if someone would have faced this decision, would they have just dropped everything and left?  Well, there was more to it.  I was doing my research this past week and found that not everything was translated in our translation.  There is a lot more to it.

It actually goes more like this…

Jesus said “follow me and I will make you fish for people?”

Andrew said, “Well, we are kind of busy.  Perhaps we can.  I am going to go ask my mom.”
Simon said, “Andrew, we can’t go.  If we don’t get some of these fish to market, our parents will be awfully mad.  Besides, mom is going to have lunch ready in an hour.  Sorry sir.  I am sure you are on a great journey and all, but we can’t help you.”

Andrew then said, “Now wait a minute Simon, just hold on.  You are always trying to boss me around and tell me what to do.  That ends this instant.  We’re going.”

Peter said, “Andrew, I am the older and wise of us both.  You know that.  I know that.  We must take care of our responsibilities.  Besides, lunch is almost ready.”

Andrew said, “Lunch can wait.  I would certainly like to try fishing for people.  It might just pay better than fishing for fish anyways.  I’ll send a message to mom that we won’t be home for lunch because, well, because we dropped our nets in the water.  That’s it.  We dropped our nets in the water and can’t find them.”

Simon said, “We can’t lie to mom.  She was even going to fix my favorite dish today -  fried fish.  Plus, we have no clue who this random stranger even is.  Fish for people?  Really?  Who does he think he is?  If we don’t get some fish to market, dad is going to be real upset.”

Andrew said, “What mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her.  We just tell dad that the fishing was lousy.”  Simon and Andrew then began to lob their fists at one another, rolling around in the dirt and fighting.  With them sparring further back and forth about the merits of going along with this man, Jesus began to shake his head in disgust and thought to himself, “what am I doing?”  He then went on his way to leave the two brothers to fight amongst themselves.  And immediately, they left their nets and followed him.

Now, I was just as amazed as all of you to come across this section of the Gospel of Mark, that really gets to the heart of our human condition.  We hold each other back.  That is what we do.  While I could proclaim that our sin in this entire mess is not following, that is far too simple.  Really, I think the sin that we need to address is how fishing for people stinks.  Really.  It can be some awful stuff.

We are now at a time in which anxiety is high.  It is high everywhere and in every institution.  It is in every level of government and every nuclear family.  The sinfulness that is to be addressed is how difficult it is to work with people.  My embellished version of the Gospel shows this clearly.

When I joked about fishing for people not being very good, it is because people don’t always taste very good.    They don’t.  What drives many of us to do the things we do is we want to avoid the people we don’t like.  Or, we hide our opinions, thoughts, and feelings, because we don’t know how to be fully honest with others we disagree with.  To put it much more bluntly and thoroughly, in this gospel passage, we are compared with fish.  And anyone who has ever gone fishing and caught fish, knows that fish smell.

So what is the Gospel?  What is the good news?  It is spelled out for us.  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near.  The good news is that we have someone fishing for us.  That fisherman is Jesus.  Jesus seeking us out.  Putting up with our stink, and offering to us in the same way… “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  That is the good news.  The good news is that we have Jesus seeking us out, fishing for us.

So how does this relate to Epiphany?  Epiphany being the discovery of God being made manifest in the world?  Epiphany being the light bulb that turns on?  Jesus being the light that scatters the darkness?  It is the proclamation.  It is shown in how Simon and Andrew drop everything to follow Jesus, knowing that this is God coming into our world.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”  Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.  Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”  And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

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Grace to you peace, from God our Creator, and Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, the one whom we have been given the gift of following, Amen.

Jesus finds Phillip in Galilee.  And we don’t hear how he found him, just where.  And that is all.  Jesus finding Phillip though doesn’t seem to be the main character of this story from John’s Gospel.  Nathanial seems to be the focal point of this lesson.  And Phillip went and found Nathanial.  Phillip told him “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  “Nathanial, this is the guy who is going to save us… they person that was written about in the Pentateuch, and all over the Hebrew Scriptures.  The one that will save all of Israel from Rome.”

And what is Nathanial’s answer?  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  “Can anything good come of that rotten place?”  Apparently Nathanial didn’t like Nazareth too much.  Nor could a messiah come from there.

But Philip is a good friend to Nathanial, and won’t let him get away with much.  “Come and See.”  “Come and See.”  Come and see this guy, and then you will believe it for yourself.

Now, this is an Epiphany story.  This is a story about God being made manifest in the world.  It is a story about the light bulb being turned on.  How is this Epiphany and light bulb story?  Jesus is discovered and seen as the King of Israel.

“I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.  Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”

Philip said to Nathanial, “come and see.”  Nathanial came and saw… and hence, Epiphany.

A light bulb.  That is Epiphany.  Much like opening line of our liturgy this morning… “Let the light scatter the darkness, and shine within your people here.”

I am currently reading a book called “Shadow Divers.”  It chronicles the true story of two deep water shipwreck divers.  These are scuba divers who dive shipwrecks at about 200 feet below the surface.  Diving that far below is very perilous.  It has lead to a lot of deaths.  When you are that far below, with that amount of pressure, your body suffers from too much nitrogen which ends up having effects on your mind, making you behave as if you were drunk.

Anyhow, these deep sea divers discovered a boat off the coast of New Jersey, and they didn’t know what it was.  Through a series of dives they discovered it was a German U-Boat from WWII.  They had to do a little more work, but they ended up discovering it was U-869.  They had found a knife with the captain’s name on it.  This is how they found the specific boat that it was.

Finding which exact boat it was is difficult.  It was especially difficult because 200 feet below the surface of the water is extremely dark.  Imagine it to be like night without any lights.  The only light they had was the light they brought with.  In a way, this story paints an image of the Epiphany story.

They went and saw.  They discovered.

Now, we are not so inclined to always think this way.  We are not always so inclined to think there is always a light bulb.  We are kind of in the dark.  At least, as Lutherans, this is what we maintain.  Every time we “confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves” we are proclaiming ourselves as being in the dark.

Now, we are in the dark.  One of my favorite stories to tell about the dark comes from my childhood.  I know most of the dads here will be able to relate.  When I was a kid, one of my favorite toys was Legos.  I loved them.  I had a bunch of them.  They were scattered and spread all over the house.  Legos are small and they have sharp edges.  My dad couldn’t stand Legos.  See, in the dark when it was night, if he tried to navigate the house he would ultimately step on a Lego.  The sharp small object would gouge into his foot because of the lack of light.

Well, while we are indeed in the dark, there is Gospel.  There is good news.  Much like our liturgy today reads “Let he light scatter the darkness, and shine within your people here.”  The good news is the light.  Much like I explained to the children earlier – Christ being like a candle or a light bulb.  Christ is the light… the light being made manifest in the world.  With Christ, we are not in the dark.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

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Grace to you and Peace, from God the Creator and Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior.  Amen.

Our Gospel text for today begins with John the Baptist.  Crazy ol’ John the Baptist.  Out in the wilderness.  Eating bags and all decked out in Camel’s hair.  Crazy John.  But even though this guy was a little on the nutty and wild side, he was all the rage at the time.  Everyone was coming to him.    All of the people from the Judean countryside – the rural people.  And all of Jerusalem – the urban folks.  It was as though all of the people of rural Minnesota together with all of the people from the Twin Cities were going to the Mississippi river to get baptized by this wild man.

And when John baptized he talked about the one who is to come.  He prophesied.  That is, someone in the future will baptize with a much more powerful baptism.  One that will baptize with the power of the Holy Spirit.

And then comes the baptism of this powerful one.  The baptism of Jesus Christ.  The anointed one.  The messiah.  The one that John the Baptist says he is not worthy to tie the thong of his sandal.  Not worthy to tie his shoes.

And this baptism is an amazing one.  Jesus comes up out of the water and he sees the Heaven’s rip apart… and he witnesses the Holy Spirit descend upon him.  Like a dove – not necessarily a dove, but like a dove.  The spirit comes down in a peaceful, calm manner.  And then a voice.  “You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

Now, we have this image in our head that a dove descending would be a nice and peaceful thing.  It would be serene.  Well… I remember back to a graveside service in which there was a dove released by the family.  It was this very passage of Mark that I read when the dove was released.  I very specifically remember the rush of wind, and the noise of the wings of the dove.  It was not peaceful at all.  It was a violent rush of wind.

What the voice of God says here, “you are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased” is difficult to translate.  It doesn’t cross over into English well.  It might better be said “you are my son, the beloved, with you I took delight.”  One of my professors from Seminary translates it as “you are my son, I delighted in choosing you.” “You are my son, I delighted in choosing you.”

Now the Heavens ripping apart, the Holy Spirit descending violently like a dove, the voice sounding and talking to the one being baptized, I was only two weeks old when I was baptized, but I am pretty sure this didn’t happen to me.

I don’t think these things happened to me.  I was only two weeks old, but I suspect they didn’t.  At least nobody told me they did.  Furthermore, I can say that of all the baptisms I have witnessed or performed in my life, I didn’t see any clouds being torn apart.  I didn’t see any visible Holy Spirit descending like a dove.  I didn’t hear a voice come from the heavens, saying “you are my son or you are my daughter, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”  I didn’t witness any of these things.

Now there is something very interesting about the baptism of Jesus as it is described to us in the Gospel of Mark.  Nobody else who was around heard or saw these things either.  The text is very specific about this.  Nobody who was there saw it.  John the Baptist didn’t experience these things.  Only Jesus did.

And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  Furthermore, he is the only one who heard that voice.  “And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”  That “you,” the “you” referring to Jesus… is singular.

What we have is a third person account of something that took place between God and Jesus.  And it would seem that nobody else, not the crowds from rural Judea or from Jerusalem, not even John the Baptist was privy to the interaction between God and Jesus.  Notice that it was Jesus that saw the heavens torn apart.  The Spirit descending upon him. They didn’t see this stuff, he did.  And that voice from Heaven, “they” didn’t hear it, “he,” Jesus heard it.  And when God addressed Jesus,  God said “you.”  God was talking to Jesus, not the crowds.

Well, now I don’t feel so bad.  No wonder for all of the baptisms I have ever seen or witnessed, no wonder I didn’t see the clouds part, and the spirit descend.  No wonder we didn’t hear God’s voice.  The people around two thousand years ago didn’t see or hear this stuff when Jesus was baptized.  It was between God and Jesus.

So, this Baptism, the baptism in which the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus what does this mean for us, here, on the day in which we celebrate the Lord’s Baptism some 2000 years ago?

See, through our own baptisms, we have been linked to Jesus’s baptism.  And not just his baptism, but also his death and his resurrection.  The second chapter of the letter to the Colossians reads, when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.  So we are linked to Christ’s baptism, his death, and his resurrection… through our own baptism.  Even the Lutheran order for Baptism reads “By the baptism of his own death and resurrection your beloved Son has set us free from the bondage of sin and death, and has opened the way to the joy and freedom of everlasting life.”

So what does this means?  If we are linked with Christ through baptism, it means that the heavens ripping apart, the Holy Spirit descending, and the voice sounding… all of this does indeed happen to us.  It’s just not as visible as we might think it would be.  The Heavens parting, the Holy Spirit, God’s voice, they are visible to us a little differently.  Not so blatant.  Not so dramatic.

The heavens are ripped apart all of the time when we baptize.  The heavens are ripped apart for us every time we come to learn and gain the knowledge that the joy and freedom of everlasting life has been opened up for us.  Just this past week in confirmation, I got to  experience the heavens being ripped apart first hand.  It was in the face of one of the confirmation students who had just learned what it meant that she had to do nothing in order to receive the free gift of grace.  I gave all of the confirmation students a quiz, and I told them they all had to receive a 100% in order to be confirmed.  Most of them were rightfully worried, until they got to the end of the quiz, were it read they would all receive 100% because that is Grace.  That is the price that has already been paid for us.  The look on her face went from confusion to happiness.  To a smile.  That was the Heavens being ripped apart, in our place, and our time.  The heavens are ripped apart every time we experience a relationship with God, and every time we experience and learn what the Grace of God actually is.

So the Holy Spirit does come down to us.  Comes down from the parted clouds, descending upon us.  Active in our families, our friends, our jobs, our lives, our congregation.  The Holy Spirit descends upon us like a dove.  Not as dramatic of a fashion as it did to Jesus, but whenever we witness a baptism – that feeling we all feel.  Or when we commune – that feeling before hand, the anticipation of receiving communion.  The feeling during and that feeling afterwards.  How we feel afterwards… that clean feeling.

And the voice of God sounds for us in the very same way.  Every time we experience the Grace of God in these ways, every time we know that God has chosen us.  Because of Christ’s baptism, death, and resurrection, every time this happens God is saying “You are my son, the beloved or you are my daughter, the beloved.  With you I am well pleased.  I took delight in you.  I delighted in choosing you.”

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, descending to us like a dove, Amen.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.  He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

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Grace to you and Peace, on this day, the Nativity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

There is a notable absence in today’s Gospel reading.  Notice anything missing from the Gospel of John?  There’s no Christmas story!  Or rather, what we think of the Christmas story.

None.  There is no Bethlehem.  No Inn.  No Shepherds.  No Angel.  No Multitude of the Heavenly Host Praising God.  No wisemen bearing gifts.  No Star up in the Heavens to Guide Them.  No Animals.  No Joseph.  No Mary.  No Virgin birth.  No Manger.  Not even a baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.  None of these.  None of these are in John’s Gospel.

So what do we have?  We have a different kind of Christmas story.  One not as romantic.  John’s Gospel was written sometime in the early part of the second century.  To a second century person of faith, God was distant.  Very far away, in the heavens, controlling our destinies.  And the word, that is logos in Greek, means Reason.  Language.  Wisdom.  Teaching.  Knowledge.  These are all things that belong to God.  These things are from God.  These things even are God.

If I were reading the beginning of John’s Gospel as a 2^nd Century Jew, to start out with, I’d be at ease with John’s Gospel. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – Yup, that make’s sense.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being – yup, this makes sense. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. – Still sounds good to me.

But then there’s this little phrase in verse 14, that little verse, my 2^nd century Jewish mind was just thrown out of order.  “And the word became flesh.”  God became flesh.  No manger, but still a Christmas Story.  God isn’t so distant anymore, hanging out in the heavens.  But God is here, on Earth, with us.  God came to us.  God became flesh.

See, early second century readers of this Gospel might have had a tough time reading that last phrase.  “Word became flesh.”  God was all-powerful.  Omniscient, omnipotent.  But not in our world.  God was distant.  If we lived at this time, our minds would lead us to ask where was God when our temple in Jerusalem, our way of religious life was destroyed?  Where is God in our Roman occupation and persecution?  Where is God when we are forced to worship the Roman Emperor and treat him as a God?  Our minds might have said, “God is not with us here.”

We have a lot in common with 2^nd century Jewish Christians.  We ask these same questions.  Where is God in our pains and our sufferings?  Where was God in the Holocaust?  In WWII?  Korea? Vietnam?  Where is God in our invasion of Iraq?  Where is God when our sons and daughters and friends are serving far away in the deserts or the mountains? Where is God in a difficult housing market?  Where is God in low paying jobs?  Where is God when we don’t have health insurance?  Where is God when we’re lonely? Where is God when our families are far away from us, in other states, on Christmas?  Where is God when our family member, maybe a spouse, a sibling, a child, died and is not with us to celebrate Christmas on this day?  Where is God when our own health fails?  Where is God in our families?  In school?  In our work places.  In Tyler?  At First English?

John’s Gospel isn’t so different in our time.  It’s a tough message to hear.  That is God has come to us.  The answer to all of these questions is that the word became flesh.  God has come to us.  God is not a distant God, in the heavens, but here on Earth, with us.

There’s a song by an artist name Joan Osbourne.  Her song was called “What if God was one of us.”  The song goes “what if God was one of us, just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home.”

This is exactly what John means when he wrote “The word made flesh.”  God was one of us.  And God still continues to be with us, as the word made flesh.  The word made flesh is with us when we partake in communion.  When we witness a baptism.

So, there may be no Bethlehem.  No Inn.  But really, the entire world is God’s birthplace.

And there may be no Shepherds, no Angels, and no Multitudes of the Heavenly Host Praising God – but here we are, at First English Lutheran, and thousands of churches around the world. Praising God just the same.

In John’s Gospel there are no wisemen.  No star guiding them.  But really, all of us come to God, being guided by a Holy Spirit, bearing gifts.

No animals.  But there is the creation of God that surrounds us all.  Not just animals, but trees, and mountains, and rivers.  And all creation has made – buildings, and cities and art and music, and books – all of creation, which pays homage to God.

No Joseph. No Mary in John’s Gospel.  – But the love we receive from God – the love a mother or a father gives a child.

No virgin birth, No manger, No baby Jesus.  But in John’s Gospel – there is just as much.  That God came to us, to dwell among us.  To be with us. To be flesh.  To be with us, as we are.

Amen.

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  All went to their own towns to be registered.  Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.  He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.  In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see– I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”  When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”  So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.  When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.  But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

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Grace to you all and Peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord, and Savior, Amen.

Some hymns have been sung.  The sanctuary is packed.  We’ve heard some wonderful music.  And we are all very excited to celebrate this birth.  We have all been here before haven’t we?  Now, I want to share with you a pastor’s perspective on Christmas Eve sermons.  There is almost nothing I can preach that wouldn’t go over well on this evening.  I could end my sermon right now, and just say “Jesus Christ was born, let’s sing Silent Night,” and we’d light some candles, and everybody on the way out of the narthex would say, “Great sermon.”  This is because that is the atmosphere.  It is in the air.  You can feel it.

See, it’s as we know how the rest of the evening is going to go.  All of the gifts are bought and wrapped.  The hams are in the oven.  Plans are all set in stone – who is coming for supper, and everything.  Everybody is dressed in some of their best clothes.  The candles are on deck, ready to be lit.  It’s as though everything is as it is supposed to be.  Wrapped up in a nice, neat package, with a bow on top.  Everything is perfect.  Wrapped up with a nice bow.

Well, you know what?  I don’t think everything is as it is supposed to be.  I don’t think everything is wrapped up in a neat package with a bow.  Life isn’t like that.  I think our lives are more like the gifts I unwrapped in front of the children.  A broken picture frame.  A broken statue.

I was talking with someone this week about Christmas from their childhood.  They told me a story about when they were a little girl.  It was Christmas morning, and she unwrapped her gift only to find in the box there was a doll with its arms ripped off.  How did this happen?  Well, her brother had meant to rip the arms off of the doll that her parents had gotten for their sister, but he got it mixed up with her gift.  So he meant to rip off the arms of the doll of their sister.    He unwrapped the gift, ripped off the arms, and wrapped it back up.  If you all want to, you can laugh.  When she shared this story with me, she assured me she had forgotten it long ago.

But how true is this about us?  Broken toys.  We like to rip the arms off of dolls.  We all have, not just this little boy.  And in turn, we have all had our arms ripped off in the process.

Or, there is another broken toy story I have for you.  My mom was about 7 years old and her Christmas gift from her parents was a little red toy piano.  She loved it.  She absolutely loved it.  She played with it for a few hours on Christmas Eve before she went to bed.  Well, her brother received as a gift a bb gun.  He loved this gift too, and he managed to use my mother’s toy piano for target practice.  He ended up destroying the plastic toy piano.

But how true is this about us?  Broken pianos.  We like to shoot pianos with bb guns.  We all have, not just my uncle.  And in turn, we have all had our pianos shot by bb’s in the process.

We are broken.  Those gifts didn’t work out as they were supposed to.  That doll was supposed to be loved on by that girl.  That piano was supposed to be played by my mother.

Well, our Christmas story, the story from Luke that we have all heard before, it really didn’t go as everyone thought it should.  A messiah was to be a grand figure.  This messiah was born in a stable.  Mary and Joseph were engaged.  I hardly think giving birth to the Son of God was in her plans.  The shepherds on that night?  I doubt that they had thought the evening would be anything but normal, encountering thousands of angels praising God and then venturing to Jerusalem to see a newborn.  Our Christmas story doesn’t come in nice and neat packages.  Our Christmas story comes to us in unexpected and broken ways.  Jesus Christ, being born to a virgin, a poor woman, born in a stable, is kind of like a broken toy.  It isn’t supposed to be that way.  And that is the Gospel.

So what about these broken toys?  Dolls with their arms ripped off?  Pianos with bb holes in them?  Yes, we ourselves are like broken toys, and we break others… but more so than this, is the story in which nothing went as it was supposed to, God rushed in and broke sin.  Those broken toys… it is just like sin.  That is the Gospel.  Now imagine sin as that piano.  God broke into our world, and tore the arms off of that sin, making it no more.  Image sin as that piano.  Shot full of holes and destroyed.

The Christmas story is a story in which nothing happened how we thought it was supposed to.  But what was supposed to happen, was for God to come down to us, first in the form of a child, to destroy sin and death.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”  He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”  And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”  Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”  He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.  Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.  They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”  John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”  This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

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I am really wondering what the priests and the Levites thought when John the Baptist said “I am not the Messiah.  I am the one who is saying “prepare the way of the Lord.”   We don’t really get what their answer was.   We do get to hear part of their answer, which was “who are you?”  And he answers “I am the one preparing for the messiah.”   My guess is they probably said a couple of more things that didn’t make it into this Gospel. The conversation didn’t end there.  It probably went like this… “Well, if you aren’t the messiah, who is going to be?  When is this messiah getting here?  Who is this person you are telling us about, that you are preparing the way for?  We want to know these things.

Or when John the Baptist told the people who had been sent by the Pharisees, “Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”  And the Gospel doesn’t go any further on than that.  Now, something is missing there.  Surely.   If I was one of the people sent by the Pharisees, a priest, or a Levite, I am wondering… who is this person who is so great, that John isn’t prepared to tie his shoes?  There is so much more to this story, that it is missing.

If I were living during this time, and was a priest, or a Levite, or a Pharisee, I would be so mad at John.  I would be furious.  I wouldn’t drop the topic.  Who is this guy?  I want to know.  There is a lot more to the story.  When is this Lord coming here?  We sure could use him here.

Now, we are not an Advent people.  We are not.  Liturgically, we don’t really celebrate Advent.  We change the colors of the paraments, we only sing songs about the Lord coming, and unless there is communion, the Lord hasn’t come yet.  But that is all.

We don’t celebrate Advent, because we are not an Advent people.  See, Advent, literally meaning “arrival” in Latin, contains very strong notions of uncertainty.  All waiting, no matter how rigorous, now matter how long or short… contains uncertainty.  Things are not certain.  They are not set in stone.  Who is this person John, that you are preparing the way for?  Who is the messiah, if you are not it?  That’s uncertainty.

And no wonder we don’t celebrate Advent… who wants to celebrate uncertainty?  We are a people, humans, we strive for certainty.  We want the sure thing.  We take safe bets.  We don’t like risks.  We are people who crave certainty.

In most of my life, I have rarely met anyone who loves uncertainty.  I have learned in my marriage, one of the worst things I can do to Emily is say “I got a gift for you… but you can’t open it until tomorrow.”  That doesn’t go well.  I throw uncertainty all over the place if I did that… which I stopped doing about 7 years ago.  Who is this messiah John, if you are not?

I have heard from many preachers that we can compare Advent to pregnancy.  When a family or friend is pregnant, everyone is excited about the upcoming arrival of the new baby.  But underneath all of the excitement, there is some fear.  Especially on the part of the parents.  Is the baby going to be okay?  Medically, will they be safe?  Will the mother be safe?  That is why we have ultrasounds and doctor’s visits when a woman is pregnant.  Expecting parents are especially worried about whether they will make good parents.  Will they do everything right?  Excitement and fear go hand in hand with each other.   Expectant parents are a good example of the desire for certainty.  They usually name their unborn fetus.  We named ours Thor.  There was a woman pregnant at the non-profit I worked at in Chicago, and I named her unborn baby Gossamer.  Silliness aside, every so often I would ask, “how’s Gossamer doing?”  And she would respond “Gossamer is doing well.  I just went to the doctor and he is alright.”  She would answer from the part of her, that human part that we all have, that craves certainty.  We want things to be okay, and work out well.  We aren’t an Advent people.  John, if you aren’t the Messiah, who is?

We don’t like uncertainty.  “John, if you aren’t the Messiah, who is?  That is our sin, and assuredly, it is my sin too.  In an uncertain world, we practice uncertainty, we don’t celebrate it.  In a world where there is very little faith, we try to cling to our old faithless selves.

This past week, I was putting up the projector screen in preparation for the Sunday School Christmas program.   The person I was doing with is a manager who deals a lot with safety and OSHA guidelines.  And we put up the projector screen with a ladder on top of a table.  We had a good conversation about it.  We discovered that his mission which is safety is absolutely opposite of my mission, which happens to faith.  Faith and safety, or certainty, are opposed to each other.

We want to celebrate the certainty that exists.  We are a Christmas people, and an Easter people.

Now, if I were to be true to the season of Advent, If I was going to be theologically correct, I would stop the sermon right here.  I wouldn’t go on any further.  But there are two sides to every sermon.  There is the law (the uncertainty side), and there is the Gospel – this is the certainty side of things.

Amidst all of this uncertainty of Advent, there is a lot of certainty.  In the time of John the Baptist, there was certainty in his announcement.  There was the certainty of the prophecy that he was quoting.  Someone truly greater than he was coming.  There was the certainty of the coming messiah, even though Jesus was not the kind of messiah they would have expected.

I on occasion like to share a story about certainty.  When we become so certain, we become set in our ways and non-negotiable.  Christopher Columbus went around to various monarchs attempting to get funding for his voyage to Asia.  He was very firm that his ships could make the voyage, and he estimated that it was about 3000 miles to Asia – just the distance his ships could travel.  The various monarchs that he sought funding from, their learned folks said, “ummm, no.  It is a lot longer than that.  It’s more like 10,000 miles.  Your ships cannot make it.”  Both were very certain, and would not budge.  But both their certainty meant they couldn’t see the forest through the trees.  Neither party could even imagine a possible 3^rd option.  That is, a large mass of land in between Europe and Asia.

In the examples I gave of uncertainty, of saying to my wife “I have a surprise for you…” though the waiting wasn’t fun for Emily when I used to say “I have a surprise for you…” the certainty was, I had a gift for her.’Make straight the way of the Lord

Or in comparing Advent to pregnancy, the certainty is still that there is a child.  And in the unfortunate event something happens, and there isn’t, there is still a loving family that surrounds us.  Amidst uncertainty, there is certainty. “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”

Most of all, there is the certainty of the Lord.  In the time of John the Baptist, there was certainty in his announcement.  There was the certainty of the prophecy that he was quoting.  There was the certainty of the coming messiah, even though Jesus was not the kind of messiah they would have expected.  Someone truly greater than he was coming.  John the Baptist was making straight the way of the Lord.  The way of the Lord.  This is the certainty that cancels out all of the uncertainty, all of the advent that is in our lives, not just in this part of the church year, not just in this season, not just in this part of the church year, but it wipes out all of the uncertainty in our waiting in all parts of the church year, and in all times and seasons.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

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Grace to you and peace, from God our creator and Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, Amen.

The verse from this Gospel reading that hangs out in my mind is the very first verse.  “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  It kind of haunts me a bit.  “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ.”  Now this first verse in Mark functions as an introductory sentence.  It sets the tone for the whole Gospel of Mark – but it does a lot more than that.

Beginnings go hand in hand with endings.  One of the examples I like to point to is in Hawaii – the word “Aloha.”  It means both hello and goodbye.  The same word for the beginning and the end of a conversation.  This simple little Hawaiian cultural trait means something far beyond hello and goodbye.  It’s that beginnings and endings are the same thing.  One doesn’t happen without the other.

Next month is New Year’s.  When people celebrate New Years – they celebrate the beginning of a New Year.  They also celebrate the end of the old year.  The year that just passed.  Most every beginning in our life, just like New Years, has an end.  Think of all the milestones that happen in our lives.

A baby’s first breath in this world.  Birth.  When they belt out and wail and cry for the first time, it’s an end to the womb.  A beginning into life here in our world.  I vividly remember the look on my daughters face right after she was born.  It was a look of utter desperation.  That was a beginning.

A Baby’s first word.  First steps.  The beginning of toddlerhood.  An end to infancy.  An end to being utterly helpless.  The beginnings of independence.

A first kiss. A first date.  A first job.  A first car.  All beginnings.  Beginnings of being a teenager.  But all are endings.  An end to childhood.

High school graduation.  The beginning of adulthood.  An end to being someone who isn’t an adult.  In a way, an end to the teenage years.

Marriage.  The beginning of a new life with someone else.  The beginning of being joined.  An end to a life of being single.

The First child.  The beginning of being a parent.  Of being responsible for a new human being.  An end to rest, peace, and tranquility.

The First grandchild.  Retirement.  The beginning of “the golden years.”  The beginning of the later years of life.  But also an end to youth.

And finally, death.  An end to life here on this earth – as we know it.  The ending of death is usually emphasized.  But really, another beginning.  A beginning into the life after death.

In scripture.  There are these same beginnings and endings:

In Genesis, the first three words in the bible.  “In the beginning.”  It was the beginning of the Heavens and the Earth.  It was the end of a formless void.

And in the end of what we consider the books of the Bible, Revelation.  “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”

The Gospel of John.  “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.  And the word became flesh.”

Now in today’s Gospel text from Mark we have “The Beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  How does this Good News begin?  With a prophecy from Isaiah.  The prophecy itself came from the time of Cyrus of Persia, shortly before the fall of Babylon.  It was prophesied among exiled Jews hoping for a beginning and an ending.  That is, the restoration of Jerusalem and an end to exile.  An end to Babylonian rule.  An end to being in a foreign land.  The beginning of a new Israel.

And its usage in Mark?  The prophecy points to John the Baptist.  John the Baptist had quite a few followers.  But then John says something.  He prepares the way for the messiah.  He gives his own prophecy:  “One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the Thong of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

What John the Baptist is pointing to is the beginning.  He’s pointing to Christ.  The Messiah.  The anointed one.  See, John the Baptists is pointing to Jesus – because Jesus is the beginning.

Jesus is the beginning of salvation.  The beginning of eternal life.  The end of death.  The beginning of our restoration.  The end of sin.  The beginning of healing.  The end of suffering.  The beginning of wholeness.  The end of broken-ness.  The beginning of forgiveness.  The end of our sin.  The beginning of freedom.  The end of our enslavement.  And if we go by the words of John the Baptist, even the beginning of how we as people are recipients of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is the beginning of our relationship with God.  The end of our estrangement.

And on this second Sunday in Advent.  Here today.  When the second candle was lit.  We celebrate that we are at the beginning of the Church Year.  We look forward to the ministry of Jesus Christ.  Prophesied in the time of Isaiah.  Prophesied in the time of the Gospel of Mark.  Prophesied in our times as well – by many many witnesses.

The beginning is Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Since December is almost upon us, and the first Sunday of Advent has already come, I was resonating upon one of my favorite songs.  This is a song most anyone will recognize, “Christmas Time is Here” by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.  This is from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.  It reads…

“Christmas time is here,
Happiness and cheer,
Fun for all that children call,
Their favorite time of the year.”

Christmas is indeed enjoyed by children.  This is no surprise.  Many adults fondly remember Christmases of ages past.  I have great memories of going up to my Aunt and Uncle’s every Christmas as a child.  It was a blissful chaos interacting with all of my cousins.  But what happens when we are no longer children?  Is Christmas still our favorite time of year?

I very much appreciate Charles Schulz and his work “Peanuts.”  His work, while appearing old-timey or kitschy, the comic strip was trend setting and monumental in its day.  I would even call it prophetic as it very much called people towards a different way of living.  One of the ways which Peanuts was so bold is it made kids into little adults.  These little adults at times fought, didn’t treat each other well, and struggled in very adult ways (see one of the many strips where Charlie Brown goes to see Lucy for psychiatric help.

The Charlie Brown Christmas Special is a good example of adults struggling.  The plot is centered around Charlie Brown’s struggle with Christmas.  Does this sound familiar?  Probably.  Struggling with Christmas is not something children generally do.  That falls upon the adults.  The Secret of Christmas that nobody seems to vocalize is the adult struggle with Christmas.  If we believed all of the hype, we would think Christmas is the greatest thing ever in everybody’s lives.  Since I am a pastor, I get to experience and encounter a different side of people’s lives.  People tell me how much they dread Christmas because a certain loved one is no longer with them – for those who have lost a spouse, Christmas can be very hard.  Others tell me how much difficulty they have putting on the holiday – baking, cooking, meal preparation, decorating, gifts.  It gets to be a bit much.  Still others struggle with family – family is not always a joyous thing for people.  To be forced to spend time with family can be a bit much for broken people.  The secret of Christmas that nobody talks about is that people dread Christmas just as much, if not more, than they look forward to it.

Often in the mainline church there is a battle.  I will call the battle Advent vs. Christmas.  Folks on the Advent side wave their arms in an up and down motion trying to get everyone to stop celebrating Christmas, when on the church calendar Christmas hasn’t yet arrived.   In essence, we are still awaiting the coming of Christ.  Others on the Christmas side of things maintain we don’t get to sing Christmas Hymns very often and the rest of the cultural of the world is in full Christmas mode.  I tend to think of the battle as a red herring.  I more so think of the line from Shakespeare, “The lady doth protest too much.”  I have stopped seeing the world that celebrates Christmas as beginning in December as an inability to wait.  I have started to see the world as looking forward more to Christmas being over than Christmas arriving.

The solution to all of this?  Well… for a more detailed look you could read my sermon from the First Sunday in Advent by clicking here.  But I will give a shortened version of the same message here.  In Mark’s Gospel, the disciples after coming out of the Temple say “Teacher, these are really huge buildings.”  Jesus says, “oh, these things will fall.”  He then tells the disciples to “Keep Watch and be prepared.”

Keeping watch for when God is coming in to the world isn’t dreadfully worrying about things.  No… I think keeping watch would be like a child staying up on the night before Christmas.  Waiting in anticipation and excitement.  As such I would recommend you all turn yourself into Children during Advent.  All of those struggles (missing deceased loved ones, preparation, family), shed them, and wait for God to show up.  God might show up when you miss your loved one.  God might show up in all your preparation – cooking, baking, decorating, and even shopping.  God might even show up when you get together with your family you find difficult.